[This story contains spoilers from season 12, episode nine of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “Ken/Kendra.”]
Life imitated artwork once more with the most recent Curb Your Enthusiasm. Or, should you ask present boss Jeff Schaffer, “life imitated foolish artwork.”
The foolish artwork he’s referring to is when Curb‘s Larry David (performed by the actual Larry David) gave Bruce Springsteen COVID, forcing him to cancel his music tour. Springsteen had made a short cameo earlier within the season in “The Garden Jockey” episode, the place the Boss praised Larry for changing into a liberal hero after he (unknowingly) stood up towards a Georgia 2021 voting legislation that makes it unlawful to supply meals or water to voters in line on the polls.
“That’s Larry David’s center title: Larry ‘Involvement’ David,” mentioned Springsteen on CNN when making his first Curb cameo.
Now, within the ninth episode of season 12 — the penultimate episode earlier than the Emmy-winning HBO comedy’s collection finale this weekend — Springsteen returns. Within the present, the Boss is so impressed with Larry’s political stance that he needs to satisfy the Seinfeld creator in actual life.
However after they sit down at a desk collectively within the dwelling of the Greenes (Susie Essman and Jeff Garlin), a number of issues go afoot. First, Springsteen’s supervisor Ken (performed by trans comic Ian Harvie) identifies himself as being previously Kendra Morris and recollects how they used to have intercourse (and at all times on the ground). This prompts one of many episode’s greatest traces when Springsteen is aghast at Larry being a “flooring fucker,” and Schaffer says that line was all of the Boss.
“Bruce telling Larry, ‘I by no means took you for a flooring fucker’ is one among my favourite moments ever — like, in life,” recollects Schaffer when chatting with The Hollywood Reporter in regards to the episode. “We knew we have been going to be speaking about flooring fucking, however that was all Bruce. That was Bruce chiming in, which was superb. We have been like, ‘What! He’s so humorous.’”
Schaffer provides, “If the music factor doesn’t work out, he positively has a future in comedy.”
As a make-good, Larry David brings the masseuse he offended (performed by Tania Gunadi) to Bruce Springsteen’s home so she will be able to snap a photograph of the Boss, who’s sick with COVID.
John Johnson/HBO
The uncomfortable change finally ends up slicing Larry’s meet-and-greet with the Boss brief however not earlier than a mix-up over their water glasses. The subsequent day, Larry comes down with COVID, and he quickly hears on the TV that Springsteen can be sick with COVID, is blaming Larry David for giving it to him and has to cancel a number of exhibits on his present tour. At the moment anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb ship the information that Springsteen’s well being is at risk, and now the world may be very mad at Larry David.
This, after all, is not going to bode properly for Larry’s popularity for his upcoming trial, the place he faces as much as one 12 months in jail and a nice of $10,000 for obstructing the election course of within the state of Georgia. He additionally was threatened on this episode with being “Me Too-ed” after he offended his masseuse.
The COVID Curb plotline was written in 2022, they usually filmed the scene with Springsteen in in the future in December 2022, on the improv comedy’s closing day of capturing that 12 months. “It was a very long time to maintain that one secret,” says Schaffer.
Then, flash-forward to February 2023, when Schaffer and David are modifying the season, and Springsteen in actual life finally ends up suspending three of his exhibits in a single week “attributable to sickness.” Then, in April 2023, Springsteen and spouse Patti Scialfa come down with COVID. And in August 2023, the Boss finally ends up suspending extra exhibits after having “taken unwell.” In September, it was then revealed he had been identified with peptic ulcer illness, and he ended up canceling all remaining 2023 dates so he may get better.
“Bruce received sick and needed to cancel his tour, and I simply turned to Larry and mentioned, ‘You’ve got a tremendous capability to manifest unfavorable issues. You’re the supreme unfavorable manifester,’” Schaffer recollects. “I bear in mind going, ‘Oh my God, it’s precisely what we did.’ Within the present, we are saying he had problems so his well being was actually in danger. It performed out identical to we mentioned — which I really feel horrible about! The excellent news is he received higher, and he was hilarious. Completely satisfied ending.”
Springsteen with David, Ian Harvie and Jeff Garlin in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
John Johnson/HBO
Schaffer says after they initially reached out to Springsteen’s supervisor, they by no means thought the visitor function would materialize. However rapidly after the pitch, the Boss mentioned sure; he was a fan of the present. After they wrapped, they despatched Springsteen his scenes, as a result of the Curb crew was so pleased with the ultimate end result.
“He cherished them, which was nice. He was placing loads of religion in us,” says Schaffer. “He’d seen the present, however lots of people haven’t labored the way in which we do, the place it’s not all scripted. A number of issues get mentioned. And we saved telling him, ‘We’ll use the perfect stuff,’ so he may attempt the whole lot. And he performed round. He knew the fundamental beats, however he was in there including and slugging round. We confirmed him the scenes as a result of we have been so pleased with how they turned out.”
The plot round how Larry likes to have intercourse finally ends up circling round when his ex-wife Cheryl (performed by Cheryl Hines) calls him out for mendacity to her about why he needed to have intercourse on the ground. (“It’s scorching, like within the motion pictures,” she says he advised her.)
“Larry being a flooring fucker as a result of he needs to keep away from miserable post-coital dialog was a narrative from one among our consulting producers that we thought was actually humorous. Ian Harvie had been on our radar for some time, and we knew he was the appropriate particular person for this half. He was excellent,” says Schaffer. “Then as we have been writing, it grew to become clear that the rationale the restaurant they ate at ended up getting a C score needed to be as a result of a waiter was fucking on the ground. It’s excellent that after listening to how vile a human being is for not eager to have any emotional attachment to anybody you’ve simply had intercourse with, Larry’s response shouldn’t be that he’ll change his methods however that he’d love to satisfy this man. ‘We have now one thing in frequent.’ So, I don’t assume Larry has discovered his lesson.”
Schaffer nonetheless marvels that they received Springsteen to do such a giant function and coyly teases that the Boss may make some form of return in subsequent week’s finale.
“Everybody was so excited that Bruce had that temporary cameo in episode two, and Larry and I have been sitting there pondering, ‘When you guys solely knew that he’s doing all these scenes in present 9.’ We have been capable of shoot loads of stuff with Bruce within the in the future we had him.”
He provides, “Issues come again to hang-out Larry each week. His life is a comedy haunted mansion, the whole lot boomerangs.”
Beneath, with just one episode remaining earlier than Curb indicators off for good (possibly, hopefully not), Schaffer takes THR by means of some extra highlights from the penultimate episode in season 12, “Ken/Kendra.”
- One other tidbit on Springsteen: the Don Henley comparability was written by the Curb writers, however the Boss knew the Eagles frontman would “be cool with it.” Schaffer says, “We wrote that as a rock icon form of mad lib.”
- JB Smoove’s Leon “didn’t need to get COVID as a result of he didn’t know what it was going to do to his dick,” says Schaffer of the hilarity that ensues when Larry’s housemate desperately tries to keep away from getting sick. “We regularly prefer to shock Larry. I didn’t inform him that JB was going to come back by means of the home in a fuel masks with an arm full of bathroom paper,” says Schaffer, revealing that they typically attempt to catch their star and creator off guard to get his most trustworthy response. “Larry interacts with the world, and the world’s towards him. So I create the world towards him, for max shock. His reactions are so good.”
- An incredible instance of a kind of reactions comes within the epic staircase war-of-words between Larry and his oft-nemesis, Susie Greene (Essman): “That Larry-Susie battle within the stairwell is one for the ages. Them arguing that one another is a virus, capped off by Susie saying, ‘Larry, you cold-hearted, COVID-carrying cocksucker,’ is one among my favourite Larry-Susie arguments of all time.” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was truly on set that day of filming. “He received an enormous earful of uncooked Curb,” says Schaffer, including that the virus insults have been all hurled in a single take. However, “you’re seeing on Larry’s aspect each body earlier than he laughs. Larry’s response to Susie calling him that was taken from a unique response as a result of he was laughing so exhausting. Larry is at all times going to blink first with Susie. Susie screaming at him is his kryptonite.”
- A restaurant being downgraded from an A to a C score mid-meal is a plot plucked from actual life, when Schaffer, David, former writers Alec Berg and David Mandel, and different Curb writers have been out for lunch in Palisades Village when filming season six. “We watched them change the letter proper in entrance of us and nobody may imagine it. They simply modified the letter in entrance of Larry David and the Curb writers, what do they assume goes to occur? Discuss low-hanging, in all probability unwashed fruit. We at all times needed to do it. I do know it appears not possible, however it actually is true.”
- The title of the e book written by Younger Larry director Les McCrabb (performed by Matt Berry), “To Dangle a Lantern On It,” originates from Schaffer’s pre-Seinfeld job at Witt/Thomas Productions the place he labored on “a present starring an unknown comedian named Jeff Garlin after which on Herman’s Head.” Schaffer says the present was full of idioms that find yourself exhibiting up within the fictional Curb script, like, “America doesn’t need to see that” and “cling a lantern on it.” Actually “hacky sitcom stuff,” he says. “We’d do this jokingly when writing, and so once we wanted a title for this e book written by this form of journeyman director, I used to be like, it must be ‘Dangle a Lantern on It.’ I wrote a strong two pages and labored out some emotions of what it’s like figuring out at a schmaltzy place (laughing). The precise stuff that Seinfeld and Curb is the antidote for.”
- The fictional “Vonderdonk” cheese from final week’s episode is now truly being bought at The Cheese Retailer of Beverly Hills (accessible throughout retailer hours). “I’m positive the cheese is great, simply don’t go away it in your automotive,” quips Schaffer.
- In different real-life information, Felicity Huffman booked her first TV gig following her function within the faculty admissions scandal and after Lori Loughlin parodied herself with a Curb cameo earlier this season. “I can’t think about that anybody is trying to us for hour-long tendencies, however I’m very completely happy that Lori received to be the primary to come back again triumphantly,” says Schaffer.
- With one week left earlier than the finale, Schaffer responds to Garlin not too long ago sharing how emotional he received when the chief producer-director referred to as reduce on the ultimate scene. “I bear in mind doing just a few additional takes to ensure we received it as a result of it was essential,” says Schaffer of subsequent week’s ending. “As soon as we did, we have been performed. And, who needs it to be performed? Then I noticed, somebody has to say one thing! So I checked out Larry, as a result of village was proper subsequent to the set, and mentioned, ‘Are you good?’ He mentioned ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ So I mentioned, ‘That’s a wrap on the best sitcom ever.’ Everybody applauded and hugged. Then I circled and Jeff was yeah, simply sitting quietly off to the aspect crying. Very candy.”
- How will Curb tie all of it collectively within the collection finale? “It’s positively longer than our standard episodes. We have now loads to say,” says Schaffer, at all times tight-lipped about any spoilers. “I can’t imagine that we’ve arrived at this second. However I feel it’s been a extremely full of life season and the finale is a really humorous becoming finish to all of it.”
Curb Your Enthusiasm releases its collection finale Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO and Max. Learn THR’s chats with Schaffer from the season right here.